Still Not Watching
I was asked over the holiday weekend if I had gone back to watching pro sports on television. You may recall that when major league baseball and pro basketball came back followed the COVID-19 suspension of play, I said I was not going to watch since things were now too political. It wasn’t meant to be anything but one person’s choice…I watched sports as an escape from current events and news…not for conversation about public controversies.
I’ve heard from some of you since, saying they felt the same way and asking if there was something else like-minded people could do. I simply said to watch if you want, don’t watch if you don’t want…it’s not my place to tell you what to do. But obviously the fewer people watching, the stronger the message.
And again, it doesn’t matter if that NBA court says “Black Lives Matter” or “Make America Great Again”…I don’t care what the message is, just leave it off the playing field or the court. Athletes can indeed be role models…advocate off the job. Similarly, singers can have strong political views…just don’t bring them out at a concert where I paid a lot of money to hear you sing.
So as you might have guessed, my answer was that indeed, I was still not watching pro sports on TV, other than a bit of NASCAR…and now, I don’t care for high school highlights where they show young people taking a knee…or college sports, what few there are, because most of them now have some on-field political tribute.
Thursday is the kickoff of the NFL season. I know what I won’t be watching, because now the end zones will have political messages painted in them and players can wear on their helmets the name of someone who was treated unfairly. This from the league that in 2002, refused to let Peyton Manning wear black shoes one week in tribute to legendary Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas, who has just passed away at the time. It was not the standard approved uniform, the league said, and threatened a $25,000 fine. Now, in its hurry to be woke, the league has bent over backwards, too far, the other direction.
To be clear, those athletes and performers have the right to speak their minds and influence change as they see fit…but not at the workplace. You can’t at yours, they shouldn’t be allowed to at theirs, much less be encouraged to do so.
